Robert Pattinson: 'I Am Living a Life I Didn't Know Existed'

Until the world fell in love with the 25-year-old actor, people used to talk a lot about Robert Pattinson’s hair. Now, they talk about his star quality and his jump-through-the-screen charisma.

Pattinson talked to Parade.com about the long-awaited next chapter in the Twilight Saga, his steamy scenes with Kristen Stewart, and embracing old-fashioned romance.

It's not as romantic as it looks.

"We show romance in the bedroom and also in a nice ocean setting. It was impossible in the waves. We were trying to kiss each other and we misjudged the strength of the tide and so it was absolutely one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do in my life. There were big waves and Kristen and I were standing on boxes tied down to the shore. God, it was absolutely impossible. One thing I have to say, we shot those scenes in the Caribbean, so the water was warm."

"I don’t think I’ve ever seen a vampire movie where I think the vampires are attractive. OK, girls are sometimes kind of sexy, but guys end up looking worse than they do in their real life with the pale make-up and the fangs. I’ve watched True Blood and all those guys are great looking, but you put vampire make-up on them and they look less handsome on the show than they do in reality."

On his steamy scenes with Kristen Stewart.

"I think the more comfortable you are with each other, the harder it gets to do any kind of really intense relationship scene. You’re kind of thinking, 'I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of this person,' 'I know what she’s thinking now,' so it becomes ridiculous after awhile. Watching other people have sex is never going to be that spectacular anyway. It’s a strange thing when there’s so much hype about it. You are like, 'God, I hope this lives up to it.' The toughest part was avoiding an R-rating. It’s funny when people talk about the sex scenes in the book because there are no sex scenes in the book. Go back and read. They always fade to black."

On his impressive six-pack.

"There are so many descriptions in the book of Edward’s statuesque body — it’s all made of marble, blah blah blah. I managed to get through the entire series without taking my shirt off the whole time. I was like, ‘Nah, I’m not taking it off ever, and I’m not working out!’ Then, when we did Breaking Dawn, I thought,‘It’s the last one, I might as well.’ So I kind of worked out to bulk up a little for those scenes with my shirt off. I stopped literally the day afterwards. I find it very boring to work out."

"The majority of guys who are getting married would have the same experience that I did, which is that you’re just standing there waiting at the altar. It’s not about you at all. Kristen has to do all the heavy lifting. She’s having to go through everything walking down the aisle, and I’m just standing there, ‘You look really good! Let’s get married! Cool!’ It was quite simple for me."

When it comes to love and marriage, just call him old-fashioned.

"I guess I must be because everyone is always telling me that Edward is kind of old-fashioned, but I always see him as fairly normal. I mean, he just knows what he wants. He’s in love with someone and he just likes the idea of getting married to them. I guess I kind of agree with that."

On becoming a daddy.

"Nobody really knows how to be a father, there’s no way to prepare for it. But it’s quite easy to play in a film when you are holding a baby. The little person is crying in your arms and you end up being very careful. When you portraying a father, you can kind of avoid all the annoying parts of having a kid because there’s someone else to take care of it."

On Twilight coming to an end.

"The one time we filmed in nice weather was literally the last day of production. Kristen and I were on the beach and just making out all night. That’s not too bad. It was just the two of us and it was really nice. Everybody stayed to watch the sunrise, which was really beautiful. It was a nice ending."

"I feel like I’ve kind of been in a whirlwind for so long, even though I’ve done other movies in between. Whenever you promote something, they always want you to talk about Twilight, so it’s kind of constant. I am living a life which I didn’t really know existed. You can kind of delay being an adult for quite a while."